When Mould Invades Your Home

Mould on Walls and Roof

There are times that you don’t expect your house to be flooded. Aside from the floods caused by strong storms, you get unlucky by leaving your faucet on, or you suddenly have leaky pipe problems. Your floor gets flooded and your other home furnishings get wet. Wiping them dry is surely a hassle, but your problem might not just end there.

After a few days thinking that you have solved your flood problems, you noticed that in the corners of your home or to some wooden furniture you have, there grows a seemingly black or brown spots. And they get bigger every passing day. You know something’s not right so you called for a building inspection from Melbourne. The verdict? Moulds.

Moulds, what are they?

Moulds are generally a group of organisms which are classified under the fungi category. Though microscopic, they are of the same family as of the mushrooms and yeasts. They appear as a cluster of blackish or brownish spots inside your home. Knowing the fungi family, it needs a humid or moist environment to grow.

When moisture is present inside your home, it is very likely that moulds will grow especially on organic matter such as wooden furnishings. Organic matter serves as food for moulds since they could not produce their own food.

As the moulds continuously grow, they develop microscopic spores that are dislodged in the air. When inhaled, this could cause serious health problems among people, as well as your pet animals.

Mould Behind WallsMould InfestationHidden Mould Inside Walls

Are moulds really a problem?

A lot of people don’t deem moulds as a serious problem. Depending on the severity of exposure to moulds, they could make you sick, or worse, kill you. When exposed to moulds for over a long period of time, you could experience the following conditions: headache, visual disturbances, muscle/joint pain, fatigue, shortness of breath, anxiety/depression, memory loss, weakened immune system, as well as GI problems. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), all kinds of moulds have the potential to cause sickness.

Warning signs that you may have developed an allergy to moulds are: watery eyes, redness of the eyes, itchy eyes, coughing, wheezing, runny nose and rashes. If this happens, don’t treat it lightly and visit your physician. And most importantly, get rid of the cause which may be moulds.

Aside from affecting your health, moulds could lessen the value of your home. The presence of moulds inside your home makes your home less appealing. Moulds are very unsightly. They could appear everywhere – in any area that is moist and humid. Plus, moulds have the tendency to eat out any organic matter they’re sticking on such as wood, fabric, carpet, paper, tile, sheetrock and even food.

If you plan to sell your home in the future, the presence of moulds would surely drive your potential buyers away, or your potential buyer would ask you to lower your selling price because there’s an obvious defect inside your home.

Where to hunt them down?

Now that you have known the ill effects of having moulds inside your home, it’s time to hunt them down. But where do you specifically find them? You know that moulds love a damp environment. Start looking for moulds in your bathroom and kitchen. You could find them lurking in the corners and under the sinks.

Moulds could also be spotted in your ceiling. Why? Perhaps you have instances of roof leaks and what comes under your roof is your ceiling. Your household enemy might just be increasing its forces inside your dark attic. Once in a while, check your attic and ceiling for mould growths.

You could also spot moulds in other high humid areas such as your basement, the corners of your windows, and even your appliances, especially those that are prone to plumbing leaks such as washing machines and refrigerators.

Use your eyes very well in order to find mould growths. Aside from the blackish and brownish cluster of specks, moulds could appear as a staining or fuzzy discoloration of white, gray, yellow and green. You could also use your nose to hunt them down. When you smell a musty odour, moulds are probably starting to invade your home.

Mould in FurnitureInfesting Mould EverywhereMould in Insulation

What to do then?

If your home is positive of mould growths, you need a major mould cleanup. To start off, fix all the plumbing leaks. When there are leaks, they could deposit organic matter to any surface; hence, inviting all the moulds to grow.

Scrub the surfaces with mould growth. Using water with detergent would already do. After scrubbing them clean, dry the surfaces completely. If some of your things such as your carpet get mouldy, you might have to throw them away. Porous materials such as fabric are hard to clean. Though you have washed them clean, the black or brown stains won’t go away.

It may be easy to scrub the moulds off, but the stain marks would be left especially on your walls, ceiling or floor. To remove the stain marks, you may have to paint them again in order to eliminate the unsightly appearance. But remember, clean the surfaces first, or else, the paint applied would only peel off overtime.

When moulds invade your home, you won’t like it. If you don’t want your home to be covered in moulds, take action now and have a building inspection. With a building inspection, you could easily find your mouldy targets and eliminate them without any trace.